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With IFRS Waiting in the Wings, Will Private Companies Get GAAP of Their Own?

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

A blue ribbon panel on private company accounting is holding its inaugural meeting Monday, to assess how financial reporting standards can best meet the needs of users of US private company financial statements, which are mostly for bankers and other types of lenders.

The panel, formed by the Financial Accounting Foundation, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, will meet five times throughout the year and will issue a report with recommendations on the future of standard setting for private companies by the end of the year.


The debate has resurfaced after the International Accounting Standard Board issued international standards for private companies last July (called IFRS for SMEs). Financial experts have been discussing this topic for decades. For instance, in 1996, the Financial Executive Research Foundation issued a paper titled “What do users of private company financial statements want?”

Some of the old and new questions the panel will address:

• What is the key, decision-useful information that the various users need from GAAP financial statements?

• Are current GAAP financial statements meeting those needs?

• How does standard setting for private companies in the US compare to standard setting in other countries, both those that have adopted IFRS for small and medium-size entities and those that have not?

To the extent that current GAAP is not meeting user needs in a cost-beneficial manner, what are some possible alternatives or private company standards?

Even if GAAP is found wanting, however, the panel might not be all that keen on IFRS as an alternative, given the limited experience of US companies with the international regime and rising skepticism on the part of the Securities and Exchange Commission about the independence of the body setting international standards.

Not that public or private US companies are eager to switch to IFRS, which will be costly and cumbersome. At this point, it seems as if private ones would rather have the accounting devil they know, except they no doubt wish it were a bit less hellacious on their results. And that’s been pretty much a forlorn hope for years.

Rough Year at KV Pharmaceutical Continues as Chairman, CFO Quit

This story is republished from CFOZone, where you’ll find news, analysis and professional networking tools for finance executives.

There’s no shortage of drama at KV Pharmaceutical. Last week Chairman Terry Hatfield, Stephen Stamp, who was named CFO April 13, and board member John Sampson quit, citing “serious concerns” about newly elected board members and senior management.

The previous week, immediately following the company’s annual meeting, the newly elected board ousted interim President and CEO David Van Vilet, who had been in charge since December 2008.

The St. Louis-based company has not named a new CFO.


It also said it is looking for a CEO with extensive pharmaceutical experience. For now, Gregory Divis will be interim president and CEO, while continuing as president of Ther-Rx, the company’s branded pharmaceutical subsidiary.

In their resignation letters, Hatfield and Sampson said they had “serious concerns regarding the ability of the newly constituted board and senior management to provide the required independent oversight of KV’s business during this critical time in the company’s history.”

They noted that only three of the board’s seven nominees for board seats were elected at the annual meeting. The remaining elected members were candidates proposed by shareholders. Among those re-elected to the board was Marc Hermelin, son of the founder, who was ousted as CEO in 2008. Also re-elected was David Hermelin, the son of Marc Hermelin, and a former director of corporate strategy who retained his seat. David Hermelin was among the board’s nominees, Marc was not.

The year has been tumultuous. In February, KV agreed to a $25.8 million settlement with the United States Justice Department. Officials with the company’s subsidiary, Ethex Corp. pleaded guilty to two felony counts of criminal fraud for failing to report it was manufacturing oversized tablets that could be harmful to patients, (some had double the advertised dosage of medicine). In March the company fired 289 employees, or 42 percent of its staff, to lower operating costs.

However, the company’s board still found the cash to pay themselves a hefty raise. According to a recent SEC filing, the board was paid $116,000 in 2009, a $60,000 raise while the company was involved in massive layoffs.

Earlier this month KV closed the sale of the assets of Particle Dynamics for $24.6 million, plus up to an additional $5.5 million in potential earn-out payments over the next four years.

In a prepared statement the company said the board’s primary focus is two-fold: to continue to work with the Food and Drug Administration to reinstate KV to Good Manufacturing Practice compliance, and to continue to explore a variety of financial alternatives as a means to strengthen the company’s cash position.

The company could not be reached for comment.

Walgreens Is ‘Aware’ of CFO Being Charged with Second DUI in Just Over a Year

At this rate, Wade Miquelon is going to be at Billy Joel territory in no time:

Walgreen Co. Chief Financial Officer Wade Miquelon was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving last month, his second such arrest in a little more than a year, according to Kenilworth and Glencoe police.


Miquelon stonewalled officers when they requested a breathalyzer test which goes over well approximately 100% of the time. As for the past incident:

In Sept. 2009, he was stopped at 12:51 a.m. at Green Bay Road and Glencoe Drive and charged with speeding, improper lane usage, DUI and having alcohol in his system. In May, he accepted a one-year supervision for the latter offense, according to a Cook County District Court clerk.

“We’re aware of it,” said Walgreen’s spokesman Michael Polzin. “It’s a personal matter, and we don’t comment on personal matters.”

Are they also be aware that it’s relatively inexpensive to hire a full-time driver for a senior executive when you have profits of $2 billion? Just so, you know, no one gets killed.

Walgreens CFO charged for 2nd time with DUI [Chicago Breaking Business]